partitionvspartitionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“partition” and “partitions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,046
“partition” frequency rank
#19,932
“partitions” frequency rank
29978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partition partitions
Definition L’ensemble ou la réunion de toutes les parties d’une composition musicale, écrites les unes au-dessous des autres, de manière à se correspondre exactement. Pluriel de partition.

Same sound, different letters: partition vs partitions

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. partition runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against partitions's 10 (CVCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
partition
10 ch
partitions

Homophone desk: partition vs partitions

This is the hard kind. partition and partitions are pronounced identically (\paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “partition” sits inside “partitions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partition is recorded at frequency rank #10,046, classified as anoun, pronounced \paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\. partitions is at rank #19,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced \paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 29978, this pair ranks #313,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of partition vs partitions

Shared letters: ainoprt. Private to "partition": -. Private to "partitions": s.

"partition" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "partitions" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partition ← aprtition · parittion · parrtition · partiiton · partitino · partitionn · partitoin · partittion
  • partitions ← aprtitions · parittions · parrtitions · partiitons · partitinos · partitionns · partitionss · partitiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "partition" for "partitions" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "partition" vs "partitions" - which ranks higher?
"partition" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,046 in our French list, against #19,932 for "partitions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"partition" and "partitions" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "partition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "partitions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #313,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "partition" and "partitions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partitions vs parutions". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #313,243 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list